Ms. Banana and Mr. Pencil walked on my desk. Curious of what was intended with having such a mess on a desk, Mr. Pencil showed great disappointment. “A desk shall always be tidy, clean and lined properly,” gesturing to the stack of books, wallets and plates. Comforting her companion, Ms. Banana stroke him gently and said “Oh dearie, don’t you think such thoughts. Wouldn’t you think everyone should decide for themselves what how they want things?” Mr. Pencil clearly didn’t like being touched, especially by a woman he just met. For all he knew, she could have terrible plans behind those sweet words. Yet, they were very tender words. His look changed from disapproving to slightly curious as he looked at Ms. Banana. “I’m sure you agree, Mr. Pencil. For example, your hair is quite neat and short. What if I, as hairdresser, didn’t think that was proper. You’d be pretty upset if I changed it, wouldn’t you?” They’d stopped walking and the misses stepped in front and tried to look into his eyes. This whole situation was making him very uncomfortable, but it seemed she wouldn’t respond to ignorance. “Yes, I assume you’re right,” he finally said, a quick look at her to find her eyes staring right back at him. Well, this was unacceptable. “Young Ms. Banana, I hope that I am greatly mistaken, but I must speak my mind before anything gets out of hand.” Gasping for air after the quick announcement he prepared the speech she was about to receive. Which would never come, for before he finished his breath Ms. Banana replied. “Mr. Pencil, why would you think of such a thing? You are not my desire.” She looked at him with dominating eyes. Even though he was taller, it required a step back. This woman was not going to be the subject of such rumors. “Oh, pardon me, uhm, shall we continue?” “Are you not used to a woman who isn’t in love at first sight, Mr.?” She was not finished with this matter. One could easily see the anger building up inside her, but her efforts to hide it were great. “No, uh, no. Not at all, Ms. I-” he stuttered, clearly not in a desirable position. “Well then, what made you think such thoughts?” An honest question, but she had a couple of possible answer in mind. Opening his mouth in several attempts to talk, Mr. Pencil decided to pull himself together. “Listen, woman, I shall not stand here idle and receive all the bizarre questions and rants you’d think to trow at me. There is nothing wrong with trying to right a situation before it goes wrong. I was only trying to be precautious!” His voice hid risen quite a bit, which had started Ms. Banana, at first. Now she looked at him with some interest. “No, you’re right, Mr. Pencil. You must have caught up some signals I didn’t send and reacted accordingly. I’m merely wondering what put you on that thought in the first place?” Leaning slightly while turning, Ms. Banana continued to stroll across the desk. There were no doubt she controlled this conversation. Disappointed that his words hadn’t given a better respond, he became a grumpy and refused to answer.

I’ll let you in on a secret Ms. Banana would never know. Mr. Pencil wasn’t born with fine lines and a strict haircut. He was a wild boy with great imagination and a popularity like no other among the other boys. Yet, the other gender always confused him. Most of them didn’t want to play with them, and the few who came along wasn’t one of them. “Watch out for the boy-girls,” the kids told him. “Why?” he asked glancing at the girls with short hair and dirt in their faces. “Girls are crazy, but girls who doesn’t act like they’re girls…” Mr. Pencil never heard the end of that sentence, for someone threw a mud ball and knocked him down. He later asked his parents why people had to or couldn’t do certain things. “It’s just the way the world works, son. If we didn’t have these gender roles, what would become of our society? We’d live like animals.” So Mr. Pencil, trusting his parents, learnt that women were crazy, but the boy-girls were worse.
Avoiding these girls would prove difficult, for they played with his friends. Even though the friend who had warned him continued to play with the girls, Mr. Pencil thought it best not to. He’d be wiser than the others. At the end of that day, one of the girls came to him. Why didn’t you play with us? We missed you. A gentle stroke on his arm, holding him close to her body. Startled by this unusual situation, he froze, mouth half open. She giggled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. He watched with big eyes as she left him, standing still, unable to move. One of his friends came to him with a smirk. “So you’ve got yourself a girlfriend, eh?” That knocked him out of his frozen state. “I-WHAT?!” It was a desperate shout, and everyone heard him, even the girl. “Whoa, what, no, no I don’t,” he said without being able to let go of her look. It was a nice pair of eyes. But he couldn’t get a girlfriend. No, especially with a boy-girl.

Mr. Pencil rarely experienced such caressing ever again.

“Do you not dare to answer me, Mr. Pencil?” Ms. Banana could see the light of a victory coming closer, and didn’t hide it. Still grumpy, Mr. Pencil answered with a lowered and tired voice, “Can’t you just leave it be?” She wouldn’t. “I can’t. For you see, it’s important that you men learn that the universe doesn’t centre around you. Everyone isn’t falling for you, no one is going to follow any of your orders, just because you’re a male. The mere assumption is pathetic.” And she laughed. For she let all her frustrations out on a man who only tried to be cautious. A man who once thought we were all equal.

Hi there, my daily writing dose. I tried to get two sides of a point in feminism. I’m not great at these things, but I tried.